Healthy Eating - Focus Foods for Healthy Aging
Improve your health as you age with fibre, the right fuel and superfoods.
There are certain nutrients, specific foods and the right hydration that contribute to your overall health and wellbeing and are an important part of healthy aging.
Focus on Fibre
A digestive system that isn’t working at peak performance will slow you down in more ways than one. Dietary fibre helps to prevent constipation, which is a side effect of many medications and a more sedentary lifestyle. Fibre also helps to control blood sugar, lowering your chances of getting or worsening diabetes. It will also help you to maintain better cholesterol levels, and a healthier blood pressure. Fibre has a lot of benefits that you shouldn’t do without.
Find fibre in:
Apples, bananas, oranges, strawberries, raspberries, mango, carrots, beets, broccoli artichokes, beans, peas, edamame, wholes grains, nuts, seeds.
Focus on the Right Fuel
Hydration is important at every age, but as you get older it is important to slow down on the sodas, alcohol and sugary juice or cocktail like drinks. Water is essential to maintaining optimal skin moisture and delivering vital nutrients to the skin cells. It helps to replenish the skin tissue and assists in increasing its elasticity, resulting in a delay in the onset of ageing, like wrinkles and fine lines.
More importantly, water helps to keep the urinary tract and kidneys healthy. When fluid intake is reduced the risk of urinary tract infections increases. Inadequate hydration is one of the main causes of acute kidney injury and the most common cause of constipation.
Take your hydration one step further and look at what you drink as an opportunity to fuel your health. By adding a daily dose of essential amino acids like those found in REJUVENATE you can slow muscle loss, repair and rebuild muscle and strengthen your immune system to help you live stronger longer. REJUVENATE comes in single serve packets and when taken daily it will help reduce this muscle breakdown and has been clinically proven to help your body rebuild and repair muscle by 57%. You re fuel with a tall glass of REJUVENATE while at the same time, preserve valuable muscle which supports your health and vitality and strengthens your immune system to fight off infection.
Focus on SuperFoods
Aging taste buds—you lose thousands of them as you age—may lead to less interest in cooking. Medications, or even being on your own, can also contribute to a lack of interest in food and leads many seniors to not eat enough food, or not enough of the right foods. You can do a lot to stave off the aging process however by making sure the foods you do eat are nutrient dense. Certain foods - known as SuperFoods - can boost your immune system, level off antioxidants, your good cholesterol (HDL), and help you to retain muscle mass, as well as bone density.
Blueberries - loaded with antioxidants, vitamins and minerals that your body craves. In fact, all berries are good but blueberries are particularly impactful and you get some fibre with the skins too! Mix them into a healthy smoothie for flavor and a vitamin boost that will start your day off right!
Fish – loaded with Omega 3s, fish like salmon and sardines have a lot of fatty acids and essential amino acids that your body needs to stay heart healthy.
Yogurt – low fat greek yogurt is an ideal way to get the calcium your body needs to maintain healthy bone density, as well as some of the proteins you need for muscle strength. Use yogurt to make a smoothie in the morning or for a great post-workout snack!
Tomatoes – this fruit contains a very beneficial ingredient: lycopene. This natural anti-cancer chemical, along with an array of other fabulous vitamins and minerals, is a body essential! Some studies suggest that cooked tomatoes are better than raw, as the cooking process releases more lycopene.
Nuts – if fish isn’t big on your menu, nuts also provide those heart healthy omega 3s, fibre, protein and unsaturated fats. What’s not to love? They make a perfect snack that will fill you up so you don’t indulge in other, less healthy options!
You can’t stop the aging process, but you can focus on specific foods to slow it down and age successfully. The earlier you start the better, as improvements to your lifestyle made in your 40s and 50s means you’ll feel stronger and healthier in your 60s and 70s, but it’s never too late to age great!